Really enjoyed reading this post from start to finish. Im not going to add anything new from my experience, but hopefully just put another data point out there (a long winded one at that).
I grew up behind an I/O in the early 90's skiing, kneeboarding, tubing, footin (on friends boat), etc. Didn't matter as long as we were on the water with family and friends. The more social it was the better the memories we had. As i got a bit older into my teens, that didn't change but i happened to take to slalom more since well, we could only foot on our friends ski boat that we saw occasionally. It was also my mom and dads go too. I eventually got into it enough that my parents found me an instructor on a private lake about 45 minutes away, and i was forever changed lol. Skiing a ski boat vs. I/O on a private lake with someone who knew how to ski was the best. Did that for 3 or 4 years through high school, but ended up going to a college that had no ski team and well, social life took over.
Every year since then i would at least get 1 ski in to say i did it, but we would still boat half a dozen times. The social part of boating never changed from when i was young, but we just enjoyed hanging out with friends and family. We would stay out late (no kids yet) so by time we got out on the big lakes, i would just get mad at the rollers and not enjoy it. So it just became social boating.
A couple of years ago i finally bought my first boat (MC X30). The wife did not grow up skiing so the only sell i had was the social do everything, but i required it be able to still ski. I love the boat, and i still love the social get togethers. That will never change. This year we couldn't use the boat as much (wife was due yesterday), so i have been taking lessons and starting to do some grassroots stuff. I can honestly say that that has re-invigorated my passion for slalom. But the reality is, the only way it will truly continue is with the private lake lessons early in the morning. I may do an open run with everyone if we get out early, but the drive continues to be what appeals to the masses where everyone has fun.
Long story short, i will continue the tradition my parents taught me to teach everyone on the boat to ski, but for those people to take it further than that, their only good option is to find a local ski club (few and far between). I really liked the post about the Korean Club idea... get a massive dock and a few boats and hang out, but that takes a lot of capital and a lot of people to up front commit to more than just one July 4 vacation week. If there was something like that around me it could spur more interest, but then it would also need to be marketed better to get enough interest (which seems to be an issue as well). If there is one thing i have noticed, the skiing world is terrible and marketing to the casual boater. I have really had to dig, to find what is going on out there earlier this year. Things like this should be hitting the casual boaters in the face to entice them, not the avid skiier searching to find what is out there. My .02.
